Welcome to the 2011 RC Soup 2wd Short Course Shootout!! We here at RC Soup decided we wanted to pit these trucks against one another at our test track, and rate their performances. The contenders: the Team Associated SC10 RTR, the Kyosho Ultima SC Readyset, the HPI Blitz RTR, the Losi XXX-SCT RTR, and the Traxxas Slash RTR. All of the trucks in this review were “used” before the shootout, so please keep that in mind while reading. These are from our personal collection and were not sent in by the manufacturers.

The test track was Canalside Raceway, the unofficial track of RC Soup. We tried to run the trucks in their stock form wherever possible. There were a few instances where we just couldn’t do it. For instance, the Kyosho Ultima SC has Kyosho “Velvet” shocks, and a Savox servo. These were prior replacements to the stock gear done by the truck’s owner. The stock gear had failed in both cases.

We ran a 2S Lipo in every truck for consistency. Among these were a Venom 40C 5000 Mah, a CRC 65C 5600 Mah, a Gens Ace 40C 5000 Mah, and a Sky Lipo 40C 4400 Mah.

Each category was given a scale of one to five. One being terrible, two was below average, three was average, four was above average, and five was exceptional.

We tested handling, jumping ability, speed, wrenchability (how easy is it to work on) and durability.

For “Handling”, we judged the truck’s general feel on the track, taking into consideration things like cornering, traction rolling, consistency, predictability, etc.

For “Jumping Ability”, we judged how the truck launched off the ramp. What was the attitude of the truck as it flew in the air? Did it fly straight, nose dive, etc… as well as how it took the landing.. did it bounce, did it bottom out, etc.

“Speed” was judged both by the low end speed out of the corners, as well as top speed along the 100+’ back straight.

“Wrenchability” was based on how difficult it would be to work on the truck should something break, or need to be adjusted. Were components cramped? Were there hard to reach areas, where you had to remove one thing to get to another?

With “Durability”, we looked not only at the gauge of the parts used, but also took into consideration whether certain components failed during past experiences. Also, did anything fail during testing?

Your intrepid RC Soup staff are behind the wheels for the shootout; Kevin, Jim and Matt.

Kevin Crandall is a team driver for Cow R/C. He’s a basher at heart, that has recently switched to racing. Kevin has been hooked on R/C going on 12 years!

Jim Decker was bitten by the RC bug in early 2010, and quickly contracted a full blown case of RC obsession of the 4 wheel variety. Jim has amassed 40+ 4 wheeled RC vehicles in his RC “garage” of various types and obviously needs psychiatric help.

Matt Peterson just recently returned to the RC hobby. He races both offroad and oval, and is the 2010 SCT indoor champion at Buddyboys Raceway.

We were joined by local sponsored 1/8 buggy racer, and owner of Canalside Raceway, Jarodd Goedel. His sponsors include Caster Racing, S&W Fuels, VP Pro USA, and AJS Machine.

Again, before we get to the results of each truck, we want to reiterate that all of the trucks in this review were “used” before the shootout, so please keep that in mind while reading. These are from our personal collection and were not sent in by the manufacturers.. We realize that this is not the perfect scenario, but it’s what we could afford to do. We did try to keep everything as close to stock as possible, and please keep in mind the Kyosho has those shocks and servo installed. Not having the original shocks any longer, we could not fit them to try it in the stock configuration. That said, we hope you enjoy the review that spans  the next several pages and look for a 4wd Shootout coming later this summer.

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